Towed Transit of the Rig ADMARINE260 in an unconventional Transit Operation

2 February 2025
Category Navigation News

The Rig Transited Successfully Escorted by Three Tugboats for Navigational Security
Traffic through the Suez Canal has witnessed the transit of the rig ADMARINE260 which was towed and steered using three SCA tugboats. It was piloted by a team of senior SCA pilots and tug masters during its voyage from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

The rig, sailing under the flag of Liberia, is 45 m. in length, of a beam of 48 m. and a gross tonnage of 3543 tons. Its transit operation required special preparation and navigational measures; including lowering the rig’s height so it may transit below Al-Salam bridge. This was executed through increasing the rig’s draft which decreased its height, and transiting during ebb which permitted a safe transit.

The rig’s transit through the Canal took 22 hours which started upon its arrival at the Port Said anchorage area where it was connected to the main pilotage tugboat “BARAKA” for towage. Following that, the rig was connect on both sides to the SCA tugboats “Port Said 3” and “Suez 3” to act as a steering rudder while observing precision in the steering process and considering the speed and direction of aerial and water currents to maintain the centered course of the rig in the Canal.

The special navigational measures taken for the rig’s transit operation entailed placing the rig as the last vessel amongst the north convoy which entered at the early morning hours of yesterday while maintaining a suitable transit speed during the hours of morning fog. The transit course of the rig was changed at the Canal’s middle section from the original waterway into the New Suez Canal that is characterized by its uniform shape and less curvatures for a safer and smoother transit.

The rig’s transit operation was specially assigned 12 Senior SCA pilots; 3 pilots for every one of the three Canal sectors in addition to one pilot at the Port Said anchorage area and two from the Suez anchorage area. The transit operation was carried out in coordination with the Main Traffic Control Center as well as being closely observed by the traffic monitoring offices in Port Said and Suez and monitored by traffic monitoring stations along the Canal.

On his part, Adm. Ossama Rabiee, Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority, has stressed that the SCA has successfully achieved the hardest equation of providing its clients with a safe transit for all types and generations of ships, marine units and floating crafts regardless whether its transit entailed normal procedures or unconventional measures while making the most savings possible for a more economic voyage in comparison with alternative routes so that the Suez Canal remains the optimal, fastest and safest route.

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